When geopolitical or other events cause fuel prices to surge, the impact on fleet budgets becomes a priority, one that typically fades as the prices return to normal. As natural as this sort of seesawing may feel, we believe it’s best to think of fuel as an ongoing strategic priority on par with safety, maintenance, and technology.

Here’s why that shift in fuel philosophy makes sense. Fuel touches almost every decision a fleet leader makes, from procurement and preventive maintenance to technology investments and driver development. For example, the vehicle you take ownership of today will show up in your fuel spend for years to come. In fact, it extends all the way through remarketing. Operational strength is built by treating fuel as a thread that runs through the entire operation rather than a line item to fret over in lean quarters.

Here’s a common scenario I come across. A client’s fuel spend climbs 10 or 12% in a quarter. It’s the same routes, the same drivers, and the same trucks. So, what’s changed? When we pull the data together, the answer is almost never just one thing; it’s usually three or four small things compounding. For example, a couple of drivers are idling more than usual; a handful of vehicles are overdue for basic maintenance; and a fuel card program isn’t flagging off-route or non-fuel purchases. None of those is particularly substantial on its own, but together they account for most of the cost increase.

Here’s what fleets should consider when they take a more strategic approach to fuel.

Optimizing commercial vehicle specs for better fuel efficiency

Most fleets that my team and I encounter inherited their vehicle mix, and it’s often not ideal. A cargo van became the default for one route, and a half-ton pickup for another. Nobody’s reopened the spec conversation, even when the route changed or the payload grew. A lack of fit between the vehicle and its actual use can lead to considerable fuel waste.

This is why fuel strategy begins at the point of procurement, but with the pump in mind. What’s the actual payload and crew size? What are the average daily miles? Are we talking about urban stop-and-go traffic or free-flowing highway traffic? What’s the duty cycle by day, by week, by season? These answers shape your specs regarding axle ratio, drivetrain configuration, aerodynamics, and more. Of course, every one of those choices compounds over the life of the asset, and it compounds faster when fuel prices are surging.

The State of Sustainable Fleets 2026 Market Brief, authored by TRC Companies, found that fleets that vary their powertrain mix across gas, diesel, propane, natural gas, battery-electric, and renewable fuels operate more effectively than those devoted to a single approach. In volatile fuel markets, that flexibility can be a competitive advantage.

Using fleet data and telematics to improve fuel management

Virtually every fleet has telematics data. They also have fuel card and maintenance data. However, many don’t have data sources that speak the same language, are in the same place, and are owned by the same person. Until that occurs, the operational fuel strategy stays mostly theoretical, and the gaps I described continue to go unnoticed.

The patterns that matter only show up when the various data converge. When that happens, you can detect when, for example, a driver’s mpg lags and their idle time runs higher than the rest. That’s a ripe coaching opportunity. Another example is when a vehicle’s fuel spend climbs without a corresponding increase in mileage. That’s an actionable maintenance flag.

A fuel card program captures the transaction details that drive this kind of analysis. Cross-referenced with telematics and maintenance data, the fuel data stops being a monthly report someone skims and becomes a working tool. And the larger your fleet, the faster the patterns become statistically reliable.

How fleet maintenance impacts fuel economy and operating costs

Maintenance and fuel typically live on different rows of the P&L, but operationally they’re the same thing. Low tire pressure? Air filters past their interval? A front end out of alignment? Each one quietly costs you fuel, every mile, every day. Spread that across dozens or hundreds of units, and you can watch the math get ugly—fast.

The cheapest and easiest fuel savings that most fleets are leaving on the floor come from completing the basics on schedule. When that discipline becomes routine, your shop becomes part of your fuel program.

Improving fleet fuel economy through driver coaching

Driver behavior is the single biggest operational variable in fuel performance. Yet, here’s a common scenario: A fleet rolls out a fuel usage scorecard and sees a strong 60- to 90-day lift in more efficient driving habits. However, the fleet then watches the numbers drift back to baseline a quarter later, when attention shifts to another priority.

Durability and consistency are the cure here. Use scorecards to rate your drivers, and include the results in monthly toolbox talks. Recognize your top performers publicly, and sit with the bottom quartile to find out what’s getting in their way of making improvements.

Even better, provide a gift card to the top performers of the month in order to incentivize fuel performance. The dollar amount almost doesn’t matter. What you’re really doing is telling everyone that fuel economy is something your organization pays attention to.

Fuel prices in 2026 are doing what fuel prices have always done. They’re moving in directions nobody predicted, on a timeline nobody set, for reasons that play out far above the fleet manager’s pay grade. None of us controls any of that.

What you can control is whether your operation is built to absorb the next shock. The fleets coming out of this year stronger than they came in are the ones treating fuel efficiency as an operating discipline that runs through procurement, data, the shop, and the driver seat every day, in good fuel markets and bad. That principle applies regardless of your fleet’s size or makeup.